


The World Stops Turning

by heartsdesire456



Series: Life In Motion [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Parents, Angst, F/F, Kid Fic, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mates, Multi, No Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 20:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1022828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were a lot of things Derek dreaded. </p><p>As a father, he dreaded the sound of something breaking in the other room (either for fear of an injured child or because <i>kids destroy everything</i>). As a werewolf, he dreaded hearing that hunters were coming through town (or anywhere even slightly Beacon Hills adjacent). As a surviving Hale, he dreaded everything related to smoke and fire (especially the idea that his house could catch fire for a second time in his life). As the husband of a member of law enforcement, he dreaded nothing more than the three words that greeted him when he answered his phone after putting out a minor fire after a football in the house knocked over a lamp and shorted out the light bulb, catching the shade on fire just a little.</p><p>“Derek… it’s Stiles.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World Stops Turning

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a sequel to [Life In Motion](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1010415) but it can be read on it's own without any problems.

There were a lot of things Derek dreaded. 

As a father, he dreaded the sound of something breaking in the other room (either for fear of an injured child or because _kids destroy everything_ ). As a werewolf, he dreaded the word that hunters were coming through town (or anywhere even slightly Beacon Hills adjacent). As a surviving Hale, he dreaded everything related to smoke and fire (especially the idea that his house could catch fire for a second time in his life). As the husband of a member of law enforcement, he dreaded nothing more than the three words that greeted him when he answered his phone after putting out a minor fire after a football in the house knocked over a lamp and shorted out the light bulb, catching the shade on fire just a little.

“Derek… it’s Stiles.”

~

Ethan had just picked Noa and their neighbor’s daughter up from school, like he did every day, when his phone rang. “Alright, quiet!” he called into the backseat before taking the call, phone balanced on his shoulder as he reached down to signal and turn. “Hey, Derek-“

“Ethan,” Derek said in a rush. “I need you to go to my house. Just go straight there. I know you have Mrs. Lerner’s kid but call her and explain, whatever, I just need you to get there right now cause I left the kids, I had to, I don’t have time to wait,” he said, sounding frantic.

Ethan paled. “What’s wrong? Derek?!”

“It’s- It’s Stiles, Ethan.”

Ethan’s heart sunk and he dropped the phone in shock, not bothering to pick it up when he changed lanes, pushing the speed limit as he changed course to Derek and Stiles’s house. 

~

Aiden dropped the office phone and leapt from his desk, sprinting back to the meeting room where the newest clients were discussing their options with Lydia and Danny. He didn’t bother knocking as he slung the door open. Lydia looked up, glaring. “Aiden, what are you-“

Aiden shook his head, looking at Danny and Lydia fearfully. “Guys- guys it’s Stiles.”

Danny paled and Lydia jumped up, slamming her laptop shut, ignoring the confused and offended clients as she grabbed Danny by the elbow and dragged him into a run for the door.

~

Scott was just signing off on the latest shipment of books when the door between Silver Arrow Books and Hale Of A Good Cup flew open and Allison rushed in, coffee spilled down her shirt. He gaped. “Whoa, are you okay? Weren’t you at work-“

“Scott!” she cried, stumbling to the counter, panic in her eyes. “It’s Stiles!”

The clipboard in Scotts hands fell to the floor with a clatter.

~

Derek was, predictably, the first to get to the hospital. There were more than a few cruisers in the lot, as well as a news van, so he knew something bad had to have happened. He rushed through the doors and immediately Melissa slammed down the phone from the desk and jogged over to him. “Melissa?” he asked frantically, breath coming in panicked gasps. 

She grabbed his arm. “He’s alive,” she said and Derek’s heart slowed just a hair.

“Where is he?”

She took his elbow and led the way down a hall. “Just breathe, sweetie,” she soothed, curling a hand around his forearm comfortingly. “He’s in surgery. I don’t know what happened, John was talking to other deputies and someone from the FBI, so I didn’t ask. But Stiles got shot,” she said and Derek’s heart clenched.

“How- how bad?” he asked, swallowing hard. 

Her hand tightening briefly on his forearm told him everything she wasn’t. 

When they got to the waiting area outside the operating rooms, Derek saw John sitting with his head in his hands and cold fear washed over him because the last time he saw that posture was just before Laura told him, “Uncle Peter’s not going to wake up, Derek,” when he was sixteen years old. 

“John?” Melissa said gently and John looked up, his red-rimmed eyes meeting Derek’s quickly, He stood up and walked over slowly, as if his age had caught up with him all at once and he was bone-weary. 

“Hey, Son,” John said, clapping Derek on the shoulder firmly.

Derek nodded. “How is he?” he asked, almost fearful of the answer.

John sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. “Hanging on,” he said, and Derek’s gut twisted at the realization that that might not have got there in time. “C’mon, may as well sit,” he said, guiding Derek over to a seat. Melissa kissed Derek’s head – something she had only done twice in the past – and then sat beside him. 

“What happened?” Derek asked, almost afraid of having his question answered.

John’s jaw clenched. “Some bastards decided to knock over a bank in the middle of the afternoon. Stiles and Anderson were the first ones on the scene and the gunmen ran out and started firing on the car. There were some pedestrians passing in front of the bank and, from what Anderson says, Stiles ran from behind the car to grab a mom with a baby that had tripped when she tried to run and he took them behind the car, but before he could get down he got hit three times-“

“Fuck,” Derek choked out, hands trembling in his lap.

“One in the vest, two under the arm. Collapsed lung. Internal bleeding. He- he lost a lot of blood,” John said, shaking his head. “They don’t know how severe the damage is… impaired breathing and blood loss means oxygen deprivation to the brain. No way to know anything yet but-“

“Hey,” Melissa soothed. “Let’s wait to get him through surgery first then worry about what problems could come next.”

John nodded, tugging absently at his pants. He looked at Derek, who was pale and trembling, fists clenched on his lap. “Who has the kids?” he asked and Derek swallowed, trying to find his voice.

“I called Ethan. He should be there by now. I left Warren in charge since it wouldn’t be but a few minutes before Ethan got there.” He looked at Melissa. “You call Scott?”

She shook her head. “It’ll get to him fast enough, I was waiting on you-“

“MOM!” Right on cue Scott slid to a stop in front of them, eyes wide with panic. He looked at Derek and his skin paled. “Oh God.”

Derek cleared his throat. “He’s in surgery,” he said weakly. Nobody else had anything to offer so Scott joined them when his mom went back to work and they sat, waiting.

There was nothing else to do but wait.

~

Allison walked into the closed Hale Of A Good Cup – Cora _hated_ her uncle for that name even four years later – and dropped onto one of the couches, curling up beside her dad, who put an arm around her comfortingly. “Anybody hear news?” she asked softly.

Danny shook his head from his spot straddling one of the normal chairs, turned to face them. “Ethan’s watching the kids. Aiden went to help him. He said Warren knows something’s wrong and he thinks Missy does too, but so far the others are just happy to have playtime with Uncle Ethan, Uncle Aiden, and Noa,” he said with an almost helpless expression on his face.

Peter shook his head. “Of course Warren knows something’s wrong. He’s an alpha, he can feel things differently. Even if he wasn’t thirteen, he’d know something was wrong, but he _is_ so he probably knows exactly what nobody’s telling him.”

Isaac winced sympathetically, curling into his armchair tighter. “God I hope Stiles is okay. I can’t imagine-“ He cut himself off, shaking his head.

Lydia nodded with a haunted expression. “It’s _Stiles_.”

The door opened again and Cora walked in, shoving her keys in her pocket. She walked over and sat on the arm of the couch beside Allison, who reached out to tangle their fingers together. “So Derek called me,” she announced, looking around. “Stiles made it through surgery. It’s just waiting now to see how he responds and how much damage there was.”

Peter met her eyes. “How is he?”

Cora just winced, looking down. “It’s bad,” she said softly. Peter sighed and put his head in his hands. Chris reached out and put his free hand on Peter’s back, rubbing between his shoulders. 

“If Stiles isn’t alright, I really fear what could happen to him,” Peter admitted. “If nothing else, I worry about the children.”

Danny shook his head. “Derek will hold it together, no matter what. He’ll struggle, but he’d never let go. Derek’s drive to protect is even stronger than any possible lapse in sanity. I hope like hell Stiles is okay, but no matter what, Derek won’t let it break him and make him abandon his kids.”

~

Derek sat at Stiles’s bedside, biting absently at his nails as he watched the constant motion of Stiles’s chest as he breathed with the aid of a respirator. He was breathing on his own, but with the trauma to his lung, he needed assistance. For the time being, his coma was real but even if he started to show signs of waking up, they would have to sedate him for at least another twenty-four hours to be sure he would be able to breathe on his own. Derek reached out and gently took Stiles’s hand off the bedspread, curling one palm beneath it and the other on top. He closed his eyes and leaned close, holding Stiles’s fingers to his lips. “I’m right here, Stiles, I promise,” he breathed, squeezing his palm slightly. He looked up at Stiles’s face, eyes glistening with unshed tears as he took in how still and unmoving Stiles’s face was. 

Stiles was never this still. Even when he was sleep, Derek knew Stiles’s face twitched and moved. Derek had spent hours when they first moved in together just watching the way Stiles’s little tics and facial expressions kept going even when he was dead to the world. He had noticed before, but he’d never had night after night spent lying beside Stiles free to watch him sleep and memorize his sleeping expressions. Derek smiled weakly. “You called me a ‘creeper’, remember?” He held Stile’s hand to his cheek, pressing his face against Stile’s unresponsive palm. “You said I was a creeper for staring at you sleep, but you didn’t mind because you knew one day someone would want to study all that ‘awesome’.” He turned and kissed his husband’s palm, lips brushing his wedding ring. He looked at it, then looked down at his own. “God, you were so beautiful that day,” he said with a broken chuckle. “You’re beautiful every day, but on the day of our wedding, you smiled so happy and your smile was so bright that you glowed. Your smile is the most beautiful thing about you, and that’s saying a lot,” he joked.

Derek looked at Stiles’s hand, not his unmoving face as he spoke. “I wish I could say you were even more beautifully happy when we got kids, but you always looked so torn between blindingly happy and heartbroken every single time. I never told you, but I was always just so grateful they were safe when we got them that I didn’t have it in me to share your heartbreak.” He smiled sadly. “I remember the day Warren and Missy were given to Chris as ‘a gift from one hunter to another’ and he shot the guys in the knees. I think your dad made sure they never told a soul who did it. The minute you saw them huddled together on Chris’s couch, I knew that they would be coming home with us,” he whispered with a warm smile at a happy memory. “You didn’t put Missy down a single time for two days. You even brought her to bed with us and I knew then that our ‘temporary care’ was never going to be temporary.” He laughed softly. “When Deaton heard about that pack that had been slaughtered and some kids were rumored to have been orphaned, I knew from the look on your face that our family was going to grow.” He shook his head. “Never thought that would mean six children in five years, though.” 

He blinked and a tear broke free in spite of his attempts to hold it in. “Every time we got news of a cub that had been abandoned or had its parents killed, you looked at me and I never once told you ‘no, we have too many already’, because the fact you had that much love inside of you – the fact that you never did run out of spaces in your heart for another child – was part of what made me fall in love with you. Even if you weren’t my mate, I would’ve fallen so hard for you, Stiles.” He sniffled quickly, rolling his shoulders as he fought tears. “You never lose your temper with the children. As short-tempered as you can be, you never take it out on our children. You are so understanding to Warren’s Alpha-tantrums. You never get scared or mad when one of the kids bit you as a baby. You work long shifts but you never skip your ‘turn’ on bad dream comforting even when I tell you I’ve got it since you have work in the morning. You are the best father werewolf cubs could hope for.” 

Derek closed his eyes, letting out a weak gasp (he denied it was a sob) and shook his head. “I can’t- I can’t lose you, Stiles. I can’t handle six children without my mate. Most werewolves lose their minds when they lose their mate, but I _can’t_. I would have to fight to stay sane just so I could take care of _six kids_ alone.” He gave up and let out a broken sob. “God, I don’t even know how many of them could understand it if we lose you, Stiles! Warren and Missy, but- but I don’t even know if Jake can get it at six. I know Amelia won’t. Obviously Libby and Erica couldn’t possibly understand where Daddy Stiles went.” He looked up, tears streaking his face. “They can’t lose even more than they already have. We need you.” He closed his eyes, clutching tightly at Stiles’s hand. “ _I_ need you, Stiles.”

Derek rested his head on the bed beside Stiles’s hand, still clasped in his own, and fought to rein in the emotions that were overwhelming him at the moment. He had to get it together and be strong. If not for Stiles, then for everybody else.

~

Ethan sat in the kitchen sipping tea to calm his nerves while he listened to Aiden playing with the kids in the other room. Three times the kids had asked where their parents were and every time it was like a kick to the gut for Ethan. He could tell the later it got, the less okay the kids were with diversion tactics.

“Where are Derek and Stiles, really?” Ethan cringed and looked up at Warren as he walked over.

“Hey kiddo-“

“I’m not a kid,” Warren grumbled, then stopped in front of Ethan. “Where are they?”

Ethan forced a smile. “I’m sure your dad won’t be long-“

“First off, not my dad,” Warren stressed. “And cut the crap, I know you’re lying to me.”

Ethan gave him a stern look. “Go back and play with your brother and sisters-“

“God, they’re NOT my brother and sisters-“

Ethan snapped, eyes flashing red. “That is _enough_ , Warren! Get in there _right now_.”

Warren just flashed red eyes right back, crossing his arms. “You’re not the boss of me-“

“No, but while your dads are gone, I’m in charge-“

“They are NOT my dads-“

Ethan slammed his teacup down so hard it cracked down the middle. “Warren Hale, you stop saying that right now, you get in there and play with your siblings, and you do it _because I said so_ ,” he growled. Warren looked slightly afraid and Ethan glared. “Now!” Warren made a retreat, giving Ethan an angry look, and Ethan deflated, putting his head in his hands.

At thirteen, Warren was the oldest kid by far and one of the first pair of kids Derek and Stiles had taken in. Five years ago, a sadistic hunter had dropped by to give Chris a ‘gift’ in the form of two werewolf children in a fucking _crate_. The hunter had taken out an entire pack and left only the two kids alive because, as he told Chris, ‘a hunter could learn a lot examining a werewolf brat’. Ethan didn’t know where the man went, but nobody saw the hunter again after he left Chris’s building, so he had a feeling Argent had come out of retirement one last time to take care of a ‘monster’. 

Warren and his sister Missy had been eight and three at the time. Unlike pretty much all of the other five kids, Warren was old enough to not only remember what happened to them, but had always called them ‘Derek’ and ‘Stiles’. Warren was a handful from the start because, with the slaughter of his pack, the alpha powers had went to him at only eight years old. Derek and Stiles had debated for a while about whether or not they could handle that kind of trouble – Derek had insisted that an eight year old alpha was too dangerous for them – but in the end Stiles had convinced Derek by pointing out that they had been thinking about children and here there were two kids who needed them. Ethan knew Derek had never regretted letting Stiles talk him into it. Derek had asked Ethan and Aiden for help in training Warren to come to terms with his growing alpha powers. As he was only eight at the time, he wasn’t able to bite and turn people, but his natural feeling of being the leader of a pack made him headstrong, stubborn, and able to talk a person into almost anything. 

Lucky for them all, Stiles had been the very same, even without any alpha powers, so he could handle it. 

After Warren and Missy, word had gotten out that the Hale pack had taken in a pair of cubs and, within a year, Deaton had been contacted by an emissary whose pack had killed an omega only to discover she had a two year old son after the fact. They didn’t want a wolf that wasn’t their own growing up amongst their pack, but she couldn’t give him over to human social services. Deaton had relayed the message to Stiles and Derek and, within a week, they had their third child, Jake. He was six now, and he was a quiet, reserved little boy who was very smart and loved his parents so much. He had been too small to remember life before them so they were all he had ever known.

A year after Jake, within six months of each other, Stiles and Derek got Amelia and Erica. Amelia was two when they got her, like Jake had been. Her mother had been a human in a dangerous, deadly pack who ran for her safety when she got pregnant. However, when Amelia’s werewolf traits began to manifest too obviously for her to hide, she had panicked and left her with an old werewolf lady who had no pack left and was far too old to care for a two year old cub. She had known Derek’s mother and reached out to see if someone in their pack could possibly care for the cub. Stiles and Derek immediately offered. Amelia was rowdy and rambunctious, like any five year old, but she was sweet as could be. 

Erica was the only child that Derek and Stiles named themselves. Stiles had been the one to find her when he, Derek, Ethan, Aiden, and Scott had driven down the coast to a small town where Chris had heard hunters were up to something. They had arrived too late for the local pack of werewolves, sadly. They found their apartment trashed and their bodies left lying in pieces around the rooms. They were about to leave when Stiles passed the bathroom and heard a whimpering sound. He had followed the whimpering to the laundry hamper and, upon looking inside, was horrified to find an infant tucked beneath a bunch of towels. They tried to find anyone in the area who knew who she was or where she belonged, but they eventually came to the tragic conclusion that the parents must have tried to hide her when the hunters came to stop them from hurting her. She was only about five months old, according to Deaton, and she had a mess of golden curls and big brown eyes, so nobody was surprised when Derek wanted to name her Erica.

Their last child, Libby, had actually been abandoned at Deaton’s office. Someone broke in – clearly a human since the mountain ash gate was left open – and Deaton had found her kneeling in front of the cat cages, giggling and playing with one of the kittens inside. She was only two, so she couldn’t offer him many answers to where she came from other than ‘the man brought me here and went outside again’. She was a year older than Erica, but they the two who were starting to be little sneaky partners in crime. Stiles thought they were trouble in the making but Derek – who Ethan firmly believed was the least strict dad in the world – thought they were adorable when they were sneaking extra cookies together and giggling over it. 

There hadn’t been any in the last two years, but Ethan knew it was only a matter of time before another cub showed up in their lives. Besides him and Danny, nobody else had children yet, but with Derek and Stiles’s brood, they weren’t lacking with werewolf cubs in Beacon Hills. Ethan had known from the time Noa was born that Stiles would want kids someday, but he had never really expected Derek Hale would be such a great father. Ethan knew that Derek would take as many cubs as needed him as long as Stiles could handle it. Derek still technically owned the property the Hale House was on, so after he and Stiles had lived in a small apartment for one year before deciding to get married, he had it bulldozed and had them a big, beautiful house built exactly where it had stood. It was more than big enough to fit more children than the six they had already. 

Ethan looked up from the mess he made and sighed, standing to get a rag and start cleaning. He ended up cleaning the whole kitchen before Aiden came in and started helping him cook the kids dinner. 

~

Getting the kids to bed was _hell_. Ethan didn’t know their routines, so he heard a lot of ‘she took my turn in the bathroom!’ and ‘Daddy says we gotta floss too but you gotta help me!’ before he got Missy, Jake, and Amelia their beds. Warren was still downstairs, claiming he got to stay up later. Ethan wasn’t sure that was true but he didn’t have the patience to argue. Aiden was reading Libby a story when Ethan brought Erica into their bedroom.

“Uncle Ethan,” Erica mumbled sleepily, looking more like a mess of curls than a little girl the way she was curled into his chest. “Where’s Daddy Derek? Daddy Stiles isn’t here sometimes, but Daddy Derek’s always here. Where’d he go?”

Ethan kissed her head, laying her down to tuck in, sitting on the bed beside her. “Well, he had to go somewhere is all.”

Erica blinked up at him tiredly. “But- but he’s gotta come home and look for the monsters,” she said, pouting. “What if they came back? He has to scare them away or they’ll get me.”

Ethan smiled and pushed her curls from her eyes. “Want me to get them? I can,” he offered. She nodded, smiling tiredly. “Okay, where do they hide?”

She giggled and pointed at the closet. “In there, silly!”

“Oh yeah?” Ethan asked, exaggeratedly stalking towards the closet. He threw the closet open and growled, flashing red eyes at the open door. “Get out of there, you mean ol’ monsters!”

Erica laughed wildly, covering her face. “Uncle Ethan! You gotta go in!”

Ethan nodded seriously. “Of course,” he said, then jumped in the closet pulling the door shut behind him. He bumped against the walls a few times, then slung open the door. “They’re putting up a fight!” he called, then ducked back in, banging around some more. He looked out. “It’s getting rough!” he called, then pretended to be yanked back into the close.

Erica gasped. “Uncle Aiden help him!”

Aiden stood up from Libby’s bed and struck a pose when the girls both watched him. “Hands off my brother, you dumb monsters!” He jumped into the closet as well, snickered with Ethan, then threw open the door dramatically, tumbling out with Ethan at his side. “Ha!” he turned back to the closet and shook his fist dramatically. “And _stay gone_!” He shut the door dramatically and Ethan pretended to dust off his clothes.

“There we go, we got them monsters,” he said and Libby and Erica both laughed and cheered. Ethan walked over and kissed Erica while Aiden did the same to Libby. They tucked the girls in and bid them goodnight before leaving the room.

When they headed downstairs, Warren was waiting for them in the doorway to the living room, where Noa was asleep on the couch. Warren’s arms were crossed over his chest and Aiden and Ethan shared exasperated looks. He clearly wasn’t done with them. “Kid-“ 

“I’m _not_ a kid,” he said firmly, then glared. “And where is Derek? Derek never is gone this long. The only time Derek’s gone over night is when he’s getting another kid,” he said, looking between them suspiciously. “Nobody’s been talking about something happening so where is he? What are you not telling me?”

Ethan sighed. “Warren, I promise, we’ll tell you guys in the morning. Nobody wants to worry you guys for no reason, just trust me.”

Warren huffed, turning to storm past them, grumbling. “Stiles doesn’t treat me like a baby,” he muttered, and Ethan’s heart skipped a beat at Stiles’s name. Aiden’s eyes widened when Warren stopped suddenly, foot raised to step up the first step. Warren turned around, eyes wide. “Why did your heart jump when I mentioned Stiles?” he asked suddenly in a smaller voice.

Ethan opened his mouth, but hesitated. “Warren…” Warren’s face paled and he grabbed the banister beside him.

“What happened?” Warren asked, walking back towards them. “Is he okay?! Why didn’t anybody tell me!” he demanded, fear and anger in his voice. “Where is Stiles?”

Aiden reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. “There was an incident today,” he started and Warren turned to him, shaking his head.

“Where’s Stiles-“

“He got a call-“

“WHERE IS MY DAD!” Warren demanded, grabbing Aiden’s wrist to shove it off him. 

Ethan bit his lip at Warren calling Stiles his _dad_ and reached out to catch Warren’s arm. “Warren, he’s in the hospital.”

Warren was shaking, eyes rapidly growing wetter. “What happened? Is he okay?”

“Dunno,” Aiden answered weakly. “I don’t know, Warren. There was a robbery and he got shot-“

“Aiden!” Ethan hissed, but Aiden shook his head.

“He’s thirteen, not three, Ethan.” He looked back at Warren. “I don’t know if he’s okay, but he’s alive. That’s what is important right now. He made it. That’s why Derek left you guys here with us. He went to the hospital.”

Warren shook his head rapidly. “He’s going to be okay later, though, right?” He looked between them both almost desperately. “Stiles- Stiles is gonna be just fine, right?”

Aiden smiled sadly. “I hope so, but right now we just don’t know anything. Derek and John are the only ones at the hospital and it’s understandable they aren’t up to calling us and giving us details.”

Warren just shook his head. “No, not again,” he breathed, blinking rapidly before he turned and ran up the stairs, running all the way to his room where he slammed the door behind him.

Ethan’s insides twisted and he slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his whimper at Warren’s words. He looked at Aiden, who was blinking hard as he looked up at the steps. He knew they were both thinking the same thing. 

Warren lost both his birth parents when he was eight, and now he was afraid of losing a third parent.

~

Ethan stood in the doorway watching Danny sitting on the edge of Noa’s bed, stroking his hair with a thoughtful look on his face. Ethan had felt Danny leave the bed and when he didn’t return he went to look for him. He knew what Danny was thinking because he’d thought it too. Since they had moved back to Beacon Hills after Danny finished college, there hadn’t been any real danger or loss for their pack. 

And it was ‘pack’ because by the time they returned, they had all grown close enough that they were a family, no matter how unconventional. Even though Scott was more the ‘real’ alpha of the pack, they called it the Hale Pack still out of respect for the family that had called Beacon Hills their territory for decades. Even if none of the three Hale’s left were alphas, it was still only right to respect the family name. A pack with three adult alphas, not to mention a child alpha adopted by a human and a beta in a family of betas, was strange, but they were happy with their pack as it was. By the time he and Danny had moved back to Beacon Hills, so much had changed. They had kept in touch and visited regularly the whole time, but it all sunk in when they were home again that, when they met, nobody would have ever imagined one day everything would be like it was.

After all the drama between Scott and Allison and then Allison and Isaac, Scott and Isaac had been the ones to end up together in the end. Ethan remembered Stiles lording it over everyone that he totally saw that one coming. Only two years later, absolutely no one had saw it coming when Allison and _Cora_ opened a business together – a martial arts school of all things – and began dating within months of being stuck with each other all day long. Ethan had been surprised at how smoothly things transitioned, but all this time later the two couples were still happy together so things seemed like it had worked out.

The most fun drama – what Stiles called ‘Pass The Popcorn Drama’ – had been when Chris Argent opened Silver Arrow books, only to have the signs finally go up on the coffee shop next door with the name Hale Of A Good Cup a week later. Peter swore he wasn’t doing it purely to antagonize Chris, but everybody pretty much agreed it was absolutely just to antagonize Chris. For the first six months, Derek worked at Peter’s shop while Scott and Isaac worked at Chris’s shop. However, after the near-daily visits to each other’s shops to antagonize each other, and an impressive _fifteen death threats_ , Derek up and quit claiming the need to officially become a stay-at-home-dad with the addition of the fifth child, an infant. Peter offered Isaac a better paycheck than Chris was paying him at the time and Isaac had had to accept the offer. Chris had stormed over to confront Peter and, while nobody knew _exactly_ what happened, everybody knew that Scott and Isaac both went home early and refused to talk about what made them leave, and then the next day and every day after the visits to each other’s shops were filled with outrageous flirting, not threats of violence. Over a year later, they still denied they were a couple, but the denials were just met with snorts and eye rolls from various members of the pack. 

Within a year of moving back to Beacon hills, Danny, Lydia, and Aiden had an established and highly well-liked network security consulting firm called M3 Consulting. Ethan always teased them that it should’ve been MMA, but Lydia claimed the ‘m’ in Ames was good enough since they couldn’t agree on a better name. Danny was the head of security testing, Aiden was in charge of the on-site consulting and physical security testing, Lydia was the overall president of the firm. When they started, it was just the three of them, but in the years since then, they had moved to larger office spaces twice from all the employees they had under them. They were one of the largest firms of the sort in Northern California now.

None of them had dangerous lives anymore except for John and Stiles. John had only recently turned fifty-seven, so he wasn’t ready to retire yet, and he didn’t use his seniority in age or as the Sheriff to get out of the same routine dangers as the deputies. Stiles had been a deputy for four years now, and there had already been two close calls, but nobody _really_ expected for either of them to actually get hurt. 

As Ethan watched Danny staring at Noa sleep, touching his hair lightly, he knew they were both thinking about the six children who faced the very real possibility of losing one of their fathers. Ethan’s sharp intake of breath caught Danny’s attention when he thought about Derek sitting there beside Stiles’s bed, suffering through seeing his mate struggling to survive and barely hanging on. Danny looked over at Ethan, who stared back at him with a broken look in his eyes as he couldn’t escape picturing himself in Derek’s position, watching Danny struggling to stay alive. He had actually seen it once – when they barely knew each other, possibly only days after Noa had been conceived – and it had been terrifying then. The thought of seeing his mate in that shape or worse at this point in their life was unbearable.

Danny gave him a sad smile, then turned to kiss Noa’s head, giving his head one last little rub before he stood and walked back to Ethan. When he reached the doorway, Ethan slid his arms around Danny’s middle, pressing himself against his mate’s chest. He tucked his head under Danny’s chin, eyes shut as he clung to Danny almost as desperately as if someone was trying to physically take him away. 

To his credit, Danny clung to Ethan right back.

~

John had thought, at the time, that watching his wife laying in a hospital bed attached to tubes and wires was the worst sight he would ever see – worse than any murder scene, accident scene, or horrible industrial accident for sure. However, the sight through the window in front of him, the sight of his only child in that same position, was the absolute _worst_ thing that had ever happened in his life. There was nothing – not even memories of how Claudia slowly wasted away – worse than Stiles lying in a hospital bed with a machine helping him breathe and an unnatural stillness to his usually ever-moving body. 

For twenty-seven years that boy had been the most important thing in John’s life and there was still a very real possibility those twenty-seven years would be all he’d get. John had never once _really_ imagined outliving his son, but now that the possibility loomed over him like a black cloud, there was nothing more daunting than the thought of how the hell it would be even possible to carry on in a world without his only child. 

A small movement caught his attention and John glanced over to see that Derek was awake. He had fallen asleep nearly an hour ago with his head on the bed beside Stiles’s leg and Stiles’s hand in his. John couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for Derek because he’d also been in that same position. It wasn’t something he would wish on anybody. Especially not on Derek. John couldn’t help but shake his head in sympathy. Derek had has _such_ a rough life. To be such a young man, he had suffered so much loss in his short years. For the past nine years, Derek’s life had been so stable and happy, and John had really hoped it was Derek’s ‘happily ever after’, as juvenile as that sounded. He knew life was never that kind, but most people didn’t have the same amount of pain and trauma in their whole lives as Derek Hale had in just his transition out of childhood. He didn’t deserve to be sitting at his husband’s beside while he fought to stay alive. Derek didn’t deserve to face the very real possibility of going home to his children and having to tell them one of their dad’s wasn’t going to come home. 

Derek was a thirty-three year old stay-at-home father of six children ranging three to thirteen. He had lost almost all of his family by the age of twenty-two. He had only had anything slightly resembling a family for the past nine years – seven if they were honest – and had only had the blissfully happy ‘husband and kids’ immediate family for five years. John just couldn’t imagine that God or life or Karma or whatever the hell was out there could possibly take Stiles from Derek now. As he watched Derek look up at Stiles, he thought that Derek looked somehow both older and more weary than ever and young and fragile.

The expression on Derek’s face was almost the exact same as the expression that John had seen on sixteen year old Derek Hale’s face as he sat in the station after almost all of his family had died. Thirty-three year old Derek’s lost and terrified expression showed exactly how young he still was inside even when the lines on his face betrayed him.

~

Scott’s heart pounded as he walked slowly towards the room where he knew Stiles was. It was early. He’d come early before his mom’s shift so that she wasn’t there to see him freaking out if it happened. When they were little, he had been the one who got hospitalized, not Stiles. Either asthma problems or falling and getting hurt, it was always him, never Stiles. The only time he’d seen Stiles in the hospital was when he was there visiting people. When he got to the room, his heart clenched at the sight through the window. Stiles was hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines and wires and Derek was sitting at his bedside, looking more broken than Scott had ever seen him.

He knocked lightly as he entered. Derek looked up with a flinch, then relaxed. “Scott,” he said, rubbing a hand through his hair.

Scott smiled tightly. “Hi,” he said gently. He walked around and stood beside Stiles, looking down at his best friend as pain lanced through his heart. “Jesus,” he breathed, ears pounding slightly as he watched the mechanical rise and fall of his chest. “Any word?” Scott asked gently.

Derek shook his head. “The doctor should be in before long. That’s who I figured you were.” He looked at the door casually. “Didn’t think visiting hours started yet.”

Scott smiled. “Well, you know all the nurses, you get a little leeway.” He carefully touched Stiles’s hand. “God, Stiles,” he breathed, fighting a lump in his throat. “How haven’t you lost it by now?” Scott asked gently, looking up at Derek. “I’d have freaked out already and Isaac isn’t even my mate.”

Derek shrugged, lips pressed against the knuckles of Stiles’s hand in his, where he held their fingers twisted together. “Losing it won’t help him. Only staying calm and waiting will make things easier. Not freaking out.” He brushed his lips along the tips of Stiles’s fingers. “Can you stay?” he asked, and Scott gave him a surprised and confused look. He nodded to the door. “The doctor is coming. When we’ve talked, I need to go home. I have to talk to the kids,” he said, looking like it was the last thing he _ever_ wanted to do. “I don’t want him to be alone though.”

Scott nodded. “Yeah, I can stay,” he promised. He looked over at Derek, then at Stiles. “You know that if I thought it would help…” he trailed off and Derek smiled tightly, but shook his head.

“It wouldn’t. Maybe when he first got shot, but the bite only stops physical injuries from getting worse. If there’s brain damage, the bite can’t fix that,” he said, stroking his thumb down Stiles’s wrist as he looked up at his face.

Scott nodded. “Yeah I figured.” He shrugged uneasily. “He wouldn’t want it anyways. I mean, he would pick it over his kids losing him, but he wouldn’t like it. Not really. Stiles is too stubborn to let werewolf instincts be that much of his life.”

Derek smiled and nodded, chuckling sadly. “He’d absolutely hate having to submit.” He reached out and gently touched Stiles’s hair. “God, I hope you’re okay, Stiles,” he whispered in a weak voice. Scott just bit his lip, fighting back a whimper at the sight of his best friend in such terrible shape.

~

The knock at the door signaled the doctor's arrival. When she walked in, Scott and Derek both looked up. She smiled at them. “Hi,” she said, walking in with a file in her hands, checking what the nurse had relayed, no doubt. “I’m Dr. Jones,” she offered, not bothering to hold out her hand and make the two sitting on either side of the bed get up. 

Derek stood up anyways, stretching when his back popped in a few places. “Derek,” he introduced hoarsely. 

“You know me,” Scott said with a small wave. “How’s he doing?” he asked her.

She smiled at Scott knowingly. “You’re not supposed to be here, why should I tell you?” she asked, then turned to Derek. “Now Derek, you’re Mr. Stilinski’s…?”

He cleared his throat and held up the hand with his ring on it. “Husband.” He looked down at Stiles, swallowing tightly. “How is he?” he asked almost fearfully.

She gave the chart another glance. “Well, his blood pressure is definitely better than yesterday afternoon when I last was in, there’s no sign we missed any internal bleeding, and his breathing is steady enough we can probably have him off the ventilator today. There’s been no sign of him trying to wake up, but that isn’t necessarily too bad of a sign,” he said quickly. “This morning we’re going to take him for some tests on brain functionality to see what we’re working with, but without the results of those tests yet, I’m afraid all I can really tell you is that he is stable and his condition hasn’t worsened. Until we know more, I can’t really give you any sort of idea of how well he’s doing, but he’s not worse so that’s something at least,” she said and Derek nodded. “Have you been here all night?” she asked Derek, who nodded mutely. “Well, I suggest you go home, get some rest, then when we’re done with your husband’s tests this morning, we can talk more this afternoon about what our findings are when you get back.”

Derek nodded. “I was going to go home soon anyways. Scott was going to stay, but I guess…” He looked at Scott, who shook his head.

“I’ll hang around in case there’s an update. My mom’s working so I’ll hang around with her,” he said.

Derek rubbed a hand over his hair. “Good, that’s good.” He turned to Dr. Jones and forced a weak smile. “Thank you. Is there anything else you need? It’s just that I’ve got to go home and talk to my kids,” he said awkwardly.

Dr. Jones shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said, then glanced at Stiles and back at him. “You two look awfully young for kids,” she said and Scott snorted, earning a stern look from Dr. Jones.

“What?! Derek’s old,” Scott defended, grinning at Derek. 

Derek sighed and rolled his eyes at Scott, but spoke to the doctor. “All our children are adopted, but you’re not wrong, I’m old enough to be the oldest’s father, but Stiles is six years younger than me.”

Scott chuckled. “They’ve got _six_ kids,” he said and Dr. Jones let out a surprised laugh, then smiled.

“Well congratulations on a big family, Derek,” she said, then nodded to Stiles. “We’ll do our best to look out for their other dad while you’re gone,” she comforted and Derek nodded gratefully.

“Thanks.”

~

When Derek got home, Cora and Aiden were there since Ethan had had to go home with Noa the night before. With so many people missing work today to help either with the kids or with Stiles, Derek was very grateful for the pack’s trend towards nepotism. When he got through the door he was assaulted by children all excitedly yelling ‘Daddy!’, having already been waiting in the front hall as soon as they heard him arrive. Derek looked at the smiling and oblivious faces of his children and his heart clenched. He knelt down right there, gathering them all in for hugs. He ended up standing with Amelia, Libby, and Erica all in his arms, kissing their faces playfully as he led the others into the living room. When he flopped onto the couch and released his daughters to gales of giggles, he noticed a missing presence and looked around for Warren. He wasn’t that surprised Warren hadn’t ran to meet him, he was thirteen and was way less interested in his father coming home, but he still expected him to come looking for answers if nothing else.

“Daddy, where were you?”

“Why didn’t you come home last night?”

“Why is Uncle Aiden and Aunt Cora here?”

“Why do you smell funny?”

Cora’s whistle startled them all and she walked into the room, giving them a stern look that Derek knew he once perfected, though his own glare had been softened after years of raising adorable children. “Hey, calm down and let your dad breathe,” she said, walking in. She glanced at Derek, who raised an eyebrow at her. She groaned. “Blame Aiden for Warren,” she said simply.

“Where is he?” Derek asked suspiciously.

Cora bit her lip, looking at the little ones. “Last night he demanded to know what was going on and Aiden told him straight up. Said he was old enough to get some answers.”

Derek groaned, but realistically he agreed. If Warren knew something was wrong, it was only fair to tell him. He was older than the other children and could understand it better. Also he was an alpha and danger to his family was his business. “Is he going to come down or do I have to go talk to him?” he asked Cora and she shrugged.

“If you tell him to come down he might, but it may be better to do this separate.” She nodded to the kitchen. “Want me to go wait with Aiden or want us both in here?”

Derek bit his lip. “You guys want to hear it all first or wait until we can have a grownup talk?”

Cora hesitated, then rolled her eyes. “C’mon Aiden.” Aiden instantly came through the doorway and shoved Cora over onto the loveseat, sitting beside her to face Derek, biting his nails. 

Derek looked down when there was a tug on his shirt and Erica was looking up at him with big, curious brown eyes. “Daddy Derek, where’s Daddy Stiles?” she asked so innocently that Derek’s heart broke knowing he had to tell her something she was just too young to even understand.

Derek sighed and kissed her messy blonde curls. “We need to talk, Sweetheart.”

Missy frowned from his side. “What’s wrong?” she asked, then paled. “Is Daddy Stiles okay?” 

Immediately the other four all stilled, looking at Derek with wide, frightened eyes. Derek swallowed hard, swallowing back any emotions that might sneak out and scare the kids. “Guys, Daddy Stiles had an accident,” he started, shushing them when they all started asking questions. “I was at the hospital. You know how Daddy Stiles is a human? Remember how we all talked about humans not healing fast like us?” he asked and they all nodded. 

“What happened to him?” Missy asked, looking terrified. “Why is he in the hospital? Uncle Scott said people only go there when they’re really bad hurt or really sick!”

Jake gasped. “Is Daddy Stiles sick?!”

Derek shook his head. “You guys know how… you know how Daddy Stiles and Papa, they get the bad guys?” he asked, trying to make it simple enough for the youngest two to understand. “Sometimes… sometimes the bad guys hurt the good guys.”

Erica’s eyes filled with tears and her lip started wobbling. Derek cringed. He knew it was coming, but she let out a broken little whimper. “A bad guy hurt Daddy Stiles?” she asked, then let out a wail, tears spilling down her little cheeks. Sure enough, Libby and Amelia both started crying too as soon as their sister did. Jake and Missy both seemed to want more answers though. 

“Daddy, what happened? Is he okay?” Missy asked, real fear in her eyes. Derek knew she had been too young to remember what happened to her and Warren, but she was old enough now that she understood what happened to their birth parents when he knew none of the other kids really grasped the concept of their parents all being dead or gone. He was pretty sure at least Erica and Libby didn’t understand that he and Stiles weren’t the only parents they had ever had. 

“The doctors don’t know yet,” he admitted and Missy slapped a hand over her mouth. “He might be, but they just don’t know, Missy. He’s not getting worse at least, they know that much, so hopefully he’ll get better-“ Missy slid off the couch and ran out of the room. Derek made to grab her when she passed, but she was too fast. Cora was up and after her in a second, leaving Aiden staring at Derek buried under a pile of four crying kids, now that Jake had started up too.

Aiden walked over and sat beside Derek, pulling Jake into his lap, then Amelia. “C’mon, guys, it’s okay. Daddy Stiles is gonna be okay. You heard what Daddy Derek told Missy, Stiles isn’t getting worse, so that means he’ll get better, right?” He kissed Amelia’s head when she buried it in his chest. “It’s okay, shhhhh,” he soothed, rocking them while Derek did the same with the other two.

~

When the kids had calmed down, Jake and Libby falling asleep while Amelia refused to let go of Aiden, Derek left them there – having to pry little Erica from his shirt when she refused to let go until he’d handed her to Aiden to tuck into his arms next to her sister – Derek went to venture upstairs. He could hear Cora talking to Missy in her and Amelia’s room when he passed the door, but he continued past to the door to the third floor. Originally, the third floor had just been an attic, but last year Warren had put up such a fuss about sharing a room with a ‘baby’ (since Jake was six and he was twelve) that they had allowed him to turn the attic into his own room. It was small for an open space attic, much smaller than the second floor, but it was a decent size for a pre-teen’s bedroom, especially when the kids had always shared rooms before. 

Derek knocked on the door, more as a warning than anything, and ignored Warren’s snap of ‘go away!’ and opened it anyways. He walked up the steep stairs and rounded the banister to see Warren laying on his bed, staring out the window towards the front drive. “Hey,” Derek said softly as he walked closer, picking up a few articles of clothing Warren left lying on the floor. He dropped them on Warren’s desk chair and momentarily had a pang when he remembered once, back when he was barely even on friendly terms with Stiles, that he’d picked up all the clothes off Stiles’s floor and threw them on the desk chair because he tripped over them twice just going from the window to the bookcase. He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed beside Warren, who refused to acknowledge him. “Warren, please just don’t,” he said with a sigh, his patience starting to wear thin.

“What,” Warren said brusquely, not even asking a question, simply being an ass. 

Derek raised an eyebrow at him. “Warren, don’t ‘what’ me,” he said, then rubbed at his temples. “We need to talk. You know we do.”

Warren snorted. “No we don’t. I heard from Uncle Aiden.”

“Yeah and I just came back with actual information that I thought you might care to know,” Derek said sternly. He took a calming breath. “I’m sure you heard me downstairs-“

“Oh what, the ‘bad guys hurt Daddy Stiles’ speech?” he asked sarcastically, snorting. “Yeah, nice story time version-“

Derek was absolutely fed up. “Warren Hale, you sit your ass up and look at me when I’m talking to you!” he snapped loudly as he stood from the bed and started pacing, startling Warren into turning over on one side to face him. “You know I told them the ‘story time’ version because they’re little children, Warren. Don’t be a little shit about babying them! Would you rather I looked Erica in the eye and said, ‘Sorry honey, your father is in a coma because some bastard was taking pot shots out of a building and your dad saved a woman and her baby and got shot for it, let’s hope he’s okay!’ Is that what you want me to say to them, Warren? Missy is the only one that might possibly understand what’s going on, Jake is a little more aware, but all Amelia, Erica, and Libby know is that one of their parents got hurt really bad and is at the hospital.” He turned back to face Warren. “Do you really want me to try and explain possibility of _death_ to a toddler?! Stop being such an ASSHOLE about the WORST DAY of my FUCKING _LIFE_!” he roared, chest heaving.

Warren just stared, breath stuttering in fear. “D-Derek-“

Derek stared back, eyes widening before he deflated and collapsed to the bed, putting his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Warren.” He lifted his head, rubbing his hands over his face. “Oh God, I’m so sorry I yelled at you. I’m so, so sorry I called you that, I’m- I’m sorry,” he choked out, breath hitching. He put his face in his hands again as crushing guilt landed on him and he realized what he had just screamed at his son.

Much to Derek’s surprise, Warren slid and sat on the edge of the bed beside him, looking down at his feet. “Derek… is- is Stiles- he’s not dying, is he?”

Derek laughed humorlessly, shoulders shaking. “I don’t know, I really don’t.” He let out a choked sound. “They said he’s stable, not getting worse, but I honestly don’t know. He was a little better than they expected but he still isn’t awake.”

“Forgive me for being skeptical, but- but you said worst day of your life,” Warren pointed out. “That makes it sound like he’s dying because your life has really sucked, according to stuff I’ve heard. Like… a _lot_ ,” he stressed. “Aunt Cora’s talked about- about your family.”

Derek sighed, letting his head drop back as he stared up at the ceiling, trying to find the words to explain. “I don’t know if you could possibly understand at your age-“ Warren started to protest and Derek cut him off. “I’m not calling you a little boy,” he urged. “But Stiles is my _mate_ , Warren. He’s not just my husband. I’m not trying to say he matters more to me than Allison does to Cora or Issac does to Scott, but I almost am because your dad is like a part of me and if I lose him I don’t know what I would do,” he admitted. He let his head drop forward, staring at the floor. 

“But your family- you lost almost all of your _pack_. Losing pack is like- like having something ripped from inside of you,” Warren mumbled, and Derek flinched at the knowledge that Warren actually remembered how it felt when he lost his pack. 

“When a werewolf loses their mate, usually they go insane,” Derek said simply. “Losing your mate usually drives you away from your pack. It makes you become an Omega because it’s too painful to be around the rest of your pack without your mate and Omegas go crazy the longer they’re alone.”

“And you can’t,” Warren said softly, realizing what Derek meant. 

Derek nodded with sad smile as he looked up to meet Warren’s eyes. “I have you guys. I have six kids. I have more than pack. I have _family_. When I lost my family, I still had my older sister. When I lost her, I thought I was going to be an Omega. I honestly thought I was going to go insane and die. But then Scott got turned and I had hope.” He cringed. “When I lost my betas, it was almost worse than my family because of the connection-“

“Your betas?” Warren asked in confusion, and Derek stopped. 

They had never told the kids about the past. Obviously, other than Warren, none of the others would understand anyhow. Even Warren wouldn’t really get it. They had decided when they adopted kids that they wouldn’t burden them with the damaging facts about their pack’s history until they were old enough to understand. “I can’t tell you everything,” Derek started and Warren looked annoyed. “It isn’t my decision to make, Warren,” he said simply. “I’m not sure I want you knowing yet, because there are things about our pack that will change the way you look at us forever. I don’t want you suspicious or angry or resentful towards anybody because it’s all in the past and we are a strong pack now and that is what matters.”

Warren raised an eyebrow. “You mean like Allison and Chris being hunters? I was eight, I remember.”

Derek shook his head. “Like the fact that the Argents were as big of a name in hunters as Hale was in werewolves and we’re the cause of each other’s numbers being down to two each at the lowest,” he said gently. “I can’t tell you everything, but I’ll tell you this much,” he said and Warren looked curious now. “I was an alpha,” he said and Warren looked shocked.

“What?! How can you be a beta if you were an alpha? Why? I thought alpha’s had to die-“

“Just wait,” Derek said softly. “My sister was alpha after my family died. Remember how they died?”

Warren nodded uneasily. “Fire.”

Derek cringed. “It was arson. Argent hunters.” Warren looked horrified but Derek shook his head. “ _Not_ Chris or Allison. They would’ve never done something like that.” He cringed. “I won’t tell you the whole story, it’s far too much detail, but let’s just say that after my sister died, I became the alpha.” It wasn’t a lie, he didn’t say _how_ long after. “You were too young to turn people when you were bit and now that you’ve grown up used to it, you won’t have it, but when I became an alpha I was drunk on power and I went looking for people to make betas. Scott didn’t want anything to do with me so I went looking for teenagers who would take the bite. I wanted to be stronger than I already was, so I only stopped when I had enough to help me. I turned three betas who were all friendless, helpless, ignored, and just wanted to belong somewhere. It was their choice, but I blamed myself for so long after I came down from the high of alpha power.”

Warren frowned. “You lost all of them?” he asked weakly.

Derek sighed, rubbing at his face. “Isaac was my first beta.”

“Isaac?!” Warren asked. “I thought he was Uncle Scott’s beta?”

Derek chuckled weakly. “He picked Scott over me even before Scott became an alpha. But obviously we all know why now,” he said with a shrug. “I had two more. A boy named Boyd and a girl named Erica.”

Warren paled. “Is that why Erica is named that?”

Derek bit his lip when he pictured a flash of Erica – his beta – laughing in his head. “Yeah. My beta, she had big, floppy blonde curls and big brown eyes so when Stiles and I got Erica we had to name her after her.” He smiled at an amusing memory. “Actually, Erica liked Stiles before I did. I still thought he was weird and annoying then, but she had the biggest crush on him,” he said and Warren made a face. “Anyways, Boyd and Erica were killed.”

“How?” Warren asked in a small voice and Derek shut down quickly, shaking his head.

“No. That is definitely not happening today.” The last thing he ever wanted was for Warren to see his favorite uncles that way. The past was in the past and he didn’t want Warren looking at Ethan and Aiden as killers. “But when I lost them, it was just… terrible. Horrible. Everything about it was like losing a part of me.”

“Why aren’t you an alpha now?” Warren asked curiously.

Derek smiled softly. “Because Cora was sick and I wasn’t going to lose her too. Isaac had left me for Scott, my other betas were dead, Peter was more of an omega than my beta, and Cora was all I had in the world, it seemed. It wasn’t just as my only beta, but she was my baby sister. I thought she died in the fire. I spent six years thinking she was dead but then I found her again. Imagine if Missy was sick,” he said softly and Warren paled. “I knew that as an alpha, I could heal her but it could mean losing my powers or even possibly killing me. But I wasn’t going to let her die.” He shrugged. “I healed her and became a beta again.”

Warren just stared. “What did you do? Did you guys go to Uncle Scott?”

“No, we left.” Warren gaped. “Cora and I packed up and we left Beacon Hills. We were going to never come back. We didn’t come back for nearly six months.”

Warren spluttered suddenly. “But what about dad?!” he asked, then flushed and cleared his throat. “I mean- uh-“

Derek laughed, grinning. “Stiles was only sixteen when we left. I was twenty-two. We were not together then. Hell we weren’t even friends really.”

Warren frowned. “Wow they were all that young?” Derek nodded. “But… you came back and they let you?”

Derek nodded. “Cora made some hunters angry and they were going to come back to Beacon Hills cause they knew we were from there. I had to go home and warn the others. That’s also when I found out Ethan was pregnant.”

Warren gaped. “Noa isn’t adopted?!” he asked in horror and Derek smirked.

“Nope! An evil druid did magic on Uncle Ethan and he and Danny had Noa naturally. Now your uncle, he didn’t have the problems I did with dating a teenager,” he teased. “Danny was still in high school when Noa was born.” 

Warren groaned. “Ewwwww.” He frowned. “Wait, you and Stiles have been married seven years, when _did_ you start dating?”

Derek smiled fondly at the memory. “I didn’t want to be the creepy older guy dating a teenager. I loved Stiles for more than a year before I ever asked him out. We got engaged and got married when we’d barely been together two years.” He looked down at his hands. “I’ve loved your dad for a little more than a decade, Warren. He was my mate so I cared about him even when I was in denial. Other than you kids, he is _everything_ to me. That’s why I got so angry. I’m sorry I yelled, but I’m just- I’m barely holding it together for everybody. I know you’re still a little too young to get that, but I need you to please just- just cooperate. Please?” he almost begged. “You’re not a little kid, but you’re still a child and I’m your father. I need you to please just listen to me and help out for a little while because, even if your dad is fine, it’s going to be tough around the house for a few weeks.” He looked at him with a serious look. “A good alpha takes care of his pack. You may not be one of the real alphas yet, but you’re going to be one day and you need to learn that not everything is about you. I learned the hard way that not protecting my pack meant opening them to a threat. Hopefully you don’t have to worry about hunters and magic, but being scared and hurt is something you can help protect your brother and sisters from.”

Warren looked down then nodded, looking back up. “And I can protect you from feeling alone,” he said firmly, looking so serious. Derek’s heart swelled and he couldn’t help but reach out and pull Warren into a hug. He expected struggling and whining, but Warren turned and hugged back, clinging to his shirt. “No matter what happens, I’m here too,” Warren said against Derek’s shoulder and Derek let out a weak, slightly we laugh.

“You really are your father’s child. You have learned to have that Stilinski heart, that’s for sure.” He kissed Warren’s head. “I love you. You six and Stiles, you guys are all my world. Don’t ever doubt for a second that I love you all and don’t ever doubt that I’m proud of the boy you’ve grown into,” Derek promised, earning a nervous but determined nod from Warren.

~

Derek had left Stiles’s room to stretch his legs and had stopped to talk to Melissa at the nurses’ station when she looked back at her screen and then stopped, eyes widening. “Melissa?” he asked gently and she looked up. “What?”

“Hang on right here for a second, honey,” she said, and he saw her walk calmly to the corner before he heard her start running. Right towards Stiles’s room. 

Derek didn’t hesitate, starting in that direction. He kept it to a walk until the last few yards, when he couldn’t help run until he got to the doorway. Dread filled him when he saw multiple people around the bed. He just knew something had gone wrong. He was seconds away from panicking when he heard the man nearest Melissa tell her, “We were taking him off the ventilator, the doctor decided he was breathing well enough, and he woke up. He panicked a little bit, I think, but they don’t want to sedate him until the doctor comes in to check on his responsiveness.”

Melissa circled the bed and nudged close. “Stiles, Sweetie, it’s me. Just calm down. You’re in the hospital, okay?”

And then Derek heard what was easily the most wonderful thing he had ever heard in his life. “Whe’s ‘erek?”

Stiles’s voice was hoarse, he sounded terrible, but he was speaking. He was awake and speaking. All those times Derek had wanted Stiles to shut up when they had just met he never could’ve suspected that someday hearing Stiles talk was like a miracle. Melissa looked up and saw Derek in the doorway. She smiled knowingly, then looked at the other nurse’s. “He’s stable right? Give us a little room,” she said, then nodded for Derek to come over.

Derek walked over and edged in on the other side of the bed without a care that he was getting in the way. He saw Stiles’s eyes open, thin slits revealing his beautiful amber eyes, and he let out a wrecked sound in his throat, carefully reaching out for Stiles’s hand. He laughed weakly when, this time, Stiles squeezed back lightly. “Thank God, Stiles,” he sighed, knees shaking from the overwhelming rush of relief. “I was so scared,” he whispered, reaching out to stroke his cheekbone carefully. “I love you so much.”

Stiles smiled faintly, still looking very weak. “‘sokay dude. Love you, too,” he whispered. He blinked tiredly. “‘M gonna be fine,” he comforted. “Not goin’ that easy.”

Derek’s heart swelled and he leaned down, pressing a kiss to Stiles’s forehead. “You better not,” he whispered, then pulled away, standing up.

Stiles made an unhappy sound. “Get your fuzzy butt back down here,” he said and Derek chuckled, leaning in to brush a gentle kiss against Stiles’s dry lips before standing tall again. “Better,” he said, curling his fingers around Derek’s. “How long’s it been?” he asked with a slightly frown.

Derek flinched. “Two days.”

Stiles groaned. “Crap.”

Melissa chuckled. “You’ve got a lot of people worried about you, Stiles. Everybody will be really glad you’re awake.”

Stiles looked at her, then at Derek. “Kids?”

Derek smiled tightly. “Worried. They little ones don’t understand and the other ones are scared.”

Stiles made an unhappy little sound. “Not leavin’ my babies like that. No way,” he soothed, looking Derek in the eyes. “You neither.”

Derek bit back the tears that closed his throat and he nodded. “I know.” He looked up at the doctor’s arrival, then looked back to Stiles. “Okay, I’ll let her look at you. I’m gonna go call the kids.” 

Stiles squeezed his hand. “I’m okay, Der. Promise.”

Derek nodded, smiling. “I trust you.” He stepped aside and let Dr. Jones come up to talk to Stiles, and he walked out of the room, pulling his phone from his pocket. He dialed home and waited. 

In seconds Warren answered the phone. “Is Dad okay?!” he asked urgently and Derek stopped, sliding down to sit in the waiting room chair beside him, happiness finally surging through him.

“Yeah, yeah he is,” he pushed out, then deflated some, head going into his hands.

They were all going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> There is also another part! [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1061544)


End file.
